The smell of old copper and wet stone filled the shrine as the air grew heavy. A massive shadow blocked the entrance, cutting off the grey morning light. Elder Fang stepped inside, his grey feather cloak trailing in the mud.
On his shoulder, the three-eyed hawk let out a low, guttural click. Its middle eye was fixed on Han Sen, glowing with a predatory yellow light that seemed to burn through the shadows.
[Detected: Elder Fang (Level 55)]
[Warning: Host's 10 HP is within 'Instant Death' range.]
Elder Fang looked down at Han Sen. His gaze was dismissive, the look of a man stepping on an ant he had spent too long searching for. He held the bronze compass in his hand, its needle pointing directly at Han Sen's chest.
"A Level 1 boy," Fang said, his voice a dry, rasping whisper. "I burned the blood of a Deacon to find a master, and all I found was a mistake."
Han Sen didn't move. He sat in the center of the shrine, his hands resting loosely on his knees. He could feel the hawk's gaze peeling back his skin, looking for the Phoenix hidden in his clothes.
"The Deacon is dead because he was arrogant," Han Sen said quietly. "You are making the same mistake."
Fang's eyes narrowed. The air around him began to ripple with the weight of his Level 55 aura. The pressure was physical, cracking the dry mud on the floor and making Han Sen's vision swim.
[HP: 9/10]
[HP: 8/10]
"You talk like a man who has more than one life," Fang sneered. He raised his hand, his fingers curving like talons. "Tell me where the bird is, and I will make your death quick. If I have to carve it out of you, it will take days."
Han Sen looked at the floor. He had spent the last hour pouring millions of points into a single skill. It wasn't a sword skill or a shield. It was [Basic Trap Setting].
[Allocating Skill Points: 10,000,000]
[Basic Trap Setting has evolved into: Absolute Law: Cage of the Void (Max Level).]
"I'm not the one who is trapped," Han Sen said.
He tapped his index finger against the stone floor. There was no explosion. There was no bright flash of light. Instead, there was a sudden, terrifying hiss of displaced air.
The four walls of the shrine vanished into a black, silent void. Elder Fang tried to spring forward, but his body froze in mid-air. The three-eyed hawk let out a screech that was instantly swallowed by the silence.
Fang's eyes widened. He looked down and saw that his feet were no longer touching the ground. Invisible threads, thinner than hair but stronger than gravity, had wrapped around his limbs.
[Skill Active: Absolute Law.]
[Status: All movement for targets above Level 1 is prohibited within the Void.]
"What... what is this?" Fang wheezed. His Level 55 mana was boiling, trying to burst through the trap, but the void simply ate the energy. It was like trying to punch the ocean.
Han Sen stood up slowly. He walked toward the floating, paralyzed Huntsman. His 10 HP body was trembling from the strain, but his eyes were as cold as the void itself.
"This is a world where levels don't matter," Han Sen said.
He reached into Fang's cloak and took the bronze compass. He crushed it in his hand, the metal snapping like a dry twig. The hawk on Fang's shoulder tried to peck at him, but its beak stopped an inch from Han Sen's face, frozen by the law of the cage.
"You came here looking for a bird," Han Sen whispered, leaning in until his face was inches from the terrified Huntsman. "But you found the man who is going to end your Sect."
Han Sen raised a single finger to Fang's forehead. A tiny spark of white light appeared at the tip.
There was a soft pop, like a bubble bursting. The void collapsed inward, pulling Elder Fang and his hawk into a single, microscopic point of nothingness.
Silence returned to the ruins. The walls of the shrine were back, but the Huntsman was gone. No blood, no body, no soul.
[Ding! Level 55 Elder Fang Erased.]
[Experience converted into 0 Skill Points.]
Han Sen slumped against a broken pillar, his chest heaving. He coughed, a spray of red hitting the grey dust.
[HP: 2/10]
[Status: Extreme Fatigue.]
He had won, but the price was his life force. He looked at the empty space where the hunter had been. The Heavenly Beast Sect would send more, but now they would be afraid.
"Let's go, Nixi," he whispered.
He walked out of the shrine and into the crowded streets of the slums. He was Level 1, he was bleeding, and he was the most dangerous man in the city. And for the first time, he felt like he was finally winning.